Homemade Meatballs & Marinara Sauce

Courtesy of  paleogirls.com

Homemade meatballs AND homemade marinara sauce -- YUM! This is actually the same recipe I use for marinara sauce, but the meatballs were new! They turned out delicious, and for those interested, this dish is paleo! This dish does take a bit of time to prepare -- I think I was in the kitchen for about two hours, but I had wine to get me through, so it's all good :) You don't even need pasta for these because they are so yummy as-is. 

Marinara Sauce Ingredients (recipe inspired by Giada De Laurentiis, but tweaked a bit)

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion-diced
• 4 cloves garlic-crushed, diced, chopped…however you like it
• Bunch of basil
• 2 28 0z. cans of whole organic tomatoes with their juice
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine both cans of whole tomatoes with their juice and the bunch of basil in a food processor or blender. Pulse until smooth and set aside.  Place olive oil, onions and garlic in a saute pan and cook over medium heat until translucent and soft…about 10 minutes. Add tomato sauce, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once boiling, let the sauce simmer on low  for about an hour.

Meatball Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 lb. ground pork (feel free to use ground turkey or chicken…whatever you feel like I am sure will work)
• 1/2 onion – diced
• 1/2 cup fresh basil
• 1/2 cup parsley
• 1 cup loose-leaf spinach
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1/2 cup tomato/marinara sauce
• 4 cloves crushed garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

Place basil, parsley, and spinach in food processor…give it a couple pulses to chop. Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix together…I use my hands…I find it is the best way to get everything mixed evenly. Next I use my scoop to make golf ball sized meatballs.

Cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  I then place them in the sauce for another 20 minutes or so, but if you don’t want to do that, cook them for 25 minutes. This recipe made about 25 meatballs for me, and I cooked two batches of the meatballs. You can either freeze the second round, or just add them in the sauce once the first batch is done -- and you've devoured them all!

Penne with Sausage and Tomato Sauce

Courtesy of Plated Perfection, adapted from Giada de Laurentiis
Shocking, another recipe from Giada. I <3 her. I made a few changes in terms of the the meat that is used (she uses tuna) and I've also just made a few minor changes. I've had the original tuna recipe, which is good, but you have to buy high quality tuna to use. This is great for a group, or else you'll have leftovers for a few days!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound penne
• 1 (26-ounce) jar homemade sauce or other purchased marinara sauce (I used Barilla this go around)
• 3 Mild Italian Sausages (probably about 12 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon drained capers
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• freshly shredded or grated parmesan cheese
• Texas Toast, this was just something I had to throw in :)

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Cook the sausage in a skillet with approximately 1 tb olive oil. I prefer to take them out of the casings and cut into chunks. Cook for about 3 minutes per side or until cooked through. Combine the tomato sauce, sausage, capers, and lemon peel in a heavy large skillet. Simmer to blend the flavors, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Toss the pasta with enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Stir in the parsley and serve. Top with parmesan cheese and some extra parsley. Serve with Texas Toast.